What's for Dinner at Hakkasan

Hakkasan has already impressed diners in London, Miami, Mumbai, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi with its upscale, Cantonese-influenced cuisine—but earlier this month, the global chain set its sights on New York’s culinary set. We asked Executive Chef Ho Chee Boon to share the stories behind some of his favorite appetizers and entrees.

Main Dining Room

One of the restaurant’s dining rooms, designed by Gilles et Boissier, the firm responsible for Hakkasan interiors in Dubai, Miami, and Abu Dhabi—as well as another NYC spot focused on modern Asian cuisine, Buddakan.

Bar

A view of the 80-foot bar; DJs will spin here on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and during Sunday brunch.

Kitchen

The kitchen, with Chef Ho at front.

Hakka Steamed Dim Sum Platter

When Ho was crafting Hakkasan’s New York menu, his goal was to produce high-quality versions of traditional Cantonese dishes and adjust them for New Yorkers’ palates. He spent time in Chinatown, various Asian markets, and Asian-fusion restaurants for research, but he wasn’t impressed. “Many of the restaurants here seemed to center around the business, rather than the food,” he says. “Our equipment here at Hakkasan, which is from Hong Kong, as well as the quality of the ingredients, helped me to make the dishes something you can only find here.” In this dish, he explains, adding roe to the scallop shumai modernizes a traditional dim sum plate. ”I think of anything that goes together and that tastes good," says Ho, with a laugh. "I think, This mushroom would go well with this fish, and I try it…. I get automatic ideas.”

Braised Turbot with Crispy pork belly

**

“**When I came to America and saw the turbot, I was very excited, because this fish is much smaller in Asia,” Ho says. “I could not believe how big they were.” The type and availability of local ingredients influences the dishes at each Hakkasan, he notes; as a result, this turbot dish is on the menu only in New York and Miami. But all the food all comes back to the chef’s roots. “I cook this in a very traditional style going back many years in Hong Kong, where the large fish are braised.”

Assam Seafood Claypot

"My father was Chinese, from Hong Kong, but I was born in Malaysia,” Ho says. “I saw that the Chinese population in Malaysia would love to eat spicy foods—traditional Chinese cuisine, but spicy. And now in Hong Kong, Malay or Singaporean spices are used in cooking but in a more mild way. With this dish, I used a Malay spice, assam, but cooked it traditionally. In Malaysia, assam is very spicy and sour. Also, traditional Cantonese cooking uses dry ingredients [in this dish the chili is dried]. In Hong Kong, this dish is always served with the fried buns."

Truffle-braised egg noodle

Truffles give egg noodles a fancy touch: Ho times the cooking to make the noodles crispy, and then adds fresh Boston scallops.

Lobster soup with tomato and tofu

This soup might look simple, but it contains more than 30 ingredients and takes five hours to cook.

Lobster stir-fry

Ho likes to use lobster on his American menus because the fish is plentiful and cheap compared to its cost in other Hakkasan markets. This lobster stir-fry is prepared with egg whites and served in a fragile “bird’s nest.”

Yuzu Parfait

"The inspiration behind this dessert comes simply from the utilization of Asian flavors alongside very American flavors,” says pastry chef Graham Hornigold, “the apple, white chocolate, pine nuts, caramel, with the very concentrated flavor of the Asian Yuzu lemon."

Chocolate Orange

Hornigold had local inspiration for this one. "This dessert is all for the show—appropriate for New York and its theater,” he says. “The chocolate sauce is poured through the holes of the chocolate film atop the glass and past the gold leaf so there's the element of interaction with the guest. I am often asked about the marshmallow; it's made with blood-orange jelly whipped and set twice. I was really inspired by the switch between spring and summer for this dish—the cool, fresh taste of the sorbet and cilantro mixed with the spiced chocolate. And with every bite, you get a little surprise with the popping candy."

Non-Alcoholic Cocktails

As pretty as cocktails but without the punch, these specialty drinks are sold more as juices than as substitutes for stronger libations. Just like the food, the beverages vary by location. In New York, mixologist Camille Austin finishes the Kowloon Cooler with a splash of soda to temper the sweetness of the drinks and cut the richness and heat of the food. The same concoction is served much sweeter in London.

Hakka

"This is our most popular cocktail across all the Hakkasan locations,” says Austin. “It is Asian-inspired with the sake and lychee, but also very tropical. I opened up Hakkasan Miami and we go through these like crazy. I'm sure the same will happen here in New York."